1. Field of the Invention
Passive comfort conditioning of a building with or without mechanical supplement, wherein thermal energy is intercepted and shunted to earth in summer, and supplied from earth in cold periods.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Geothermal energy is usually through of as tapping very hot substrata of the earth to produce steam for generating power. However, it has long been recognized that the temperature of the earth below the immediate top surface areas, remains relatively constant throughout the entire year in the major portion of the earth's surface. This stable temperature has been used to reduce the comfort conditioning of dwelling places by partially building into the earth, much in the manner of early cave dwellings.
It is becoming increasingly popular to use heat pump air conditioning systems in order to extract heat from the atmosphere in colder seasons and use that heat to warm the interior of the dwelling residence. That system has been enhanced by using the geothermal principle to extract heat energy from the subsoil during heating season and to absorb excess heat during the refrigeration ccycle of heat pump use. This is accomplished sometimes by extending the refrigerant through tubes into the subsoil, but more usually by drawing water from wells to flow through heat exchangers of the system at surface level.
The passive system response to geothermal energy appears to be limited strictly to the prevention of heat flow in colder climates wherein foundations are protected against earth freeze below the foundation. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,175.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,973 teaches a specific arrangement of the well known heat sink principle wherein an area below the slab of a house is filled with gravel to a depth below the frost line to act as a constant heat sink for circulated air in the house. Insulation prevents contact of the slab of the house with the foundation.
A still further example of insulation from the earth is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,858. This and the former references all have their positive purposes, but insofar as the background of this invention is concerned it indicates the effort to prevent communication of the building floor and walls with the geothermal store below the surface of the earth.
It is an object of this invention to provide earth tempering for a building without the necessity of building under ground or use of an earth bern.
The object of earth tempering is to enhance the energy efficiency of a building.
It is also an object of this invention to transport thermal energy from earth to provide energy to a building during a time when ambient temperature is lower than desired building interior temperature.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide earth tempering in a simple form that may be incorporated into new construction, but which is capable of being retrofitted to an existing building, even by an inexperienced owner.
Other objects and a fuller understanding of this invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention, the description and the claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.